It's fun to speculate with young players but I think the FO, TWC, season ticket holders would demand nothing less than Love and Rondo or an acceptable equivalent. By hook or by crook, Mitch will make it happen
They can demand what they want. At the end of the day it's about putting a winning team on the floor and I trust Mitch and co. to do that. If we go to the playoffs with a young exciting team, no one is going to be complaining. It's 1 of those situations where you just have to sit back and trust the experts. There isn't a soul at TWC or within the season ticket holders that knows how to put a winning team together better than Mitch.
I listened to ESPN radio today with Windhorst, Stein, and Amir, and they almost have me convinced that Love will be staying in Cleveland for various reasons. As far as Rondo goes, we might lock eyes in free agency, and he might come in a 'save your career' type of contract with an option inked in the contract. Nevertheless, I don't expect TWC to have any or much influence over the personnel decisions Mitch makes during the summer. On another note, I noticed some cheap wing options we could probably look at during the summer... Cory Brewer Alan Anderon Dunleavy Al-Farouq Aminu
I think you're going to have to jack all those up quite a bit. monta could opt in for 8 this year and cash in next year. he's going for money if he opts out. 10-11 per is what I'm guessing is the low starting point. green may be in that 5-7 range, but afflalo might be a bit higher (doesn't he also have a monta type contract? 8 per with an opt out?) I see biyombo bandied about here a lot, which makes me think folks in the league might be wise, too. and isn't he an RFA? historically, you have to overpay for those, and 5 per for a good backup center is an underpay. mcdaniels is also restricted, right? i see him going for more than the BAE. i do like your plan in general, though. i just think that more realistically, you can fit monta/biyombo/mcdaniels into the 23 million with maybe a bit left over to shore up a couple spots on the cheap.
I think Love is just infatuated with being in the Finals. Being on the Cavs, he'll be in the Finals every year basically for the next 3-4 years. Plus more money? Seems nice even if Cleveland is a damn pit of a city. I could see him re-signing there and regretting it after his career ends, but I could see it happening. That's fine though. I'd rather have Randle right now than Love right now anyway. Randle has shown some absolutely great stuff in spots. Love has showed that on a great team he's a 16/9 guy. I think Randle can be a 16/9 guy on a great team. Maybe more like a 15/5/5 guy but I like that too. Any who: -Brewer: I kind of hate this dude and all indications are that he'll be in Houston forever. -Anderson: good fit for a bench role, but we already got one of those... I'd take him if we find a max player though. -Dunleavy: good role player, decent fit with a three pointer but no defense. We could really use some defense. -Al-Forouq Aminu: really good bargain bin type. Seems like the kind of guy that Mitch could snatch up.
Yeah, I'm just throwing names out there that might fit cheap roles that we snatch up. I'm kind of tired of looking at Wesley Johnson.
Davis was a great find. Although, all the bargains if not most have came from GM Assistant Rob Pelinka.
You might be right on Monta, but here's how I see that playing out. Monta opts out, then Dallas pulls off the Chandler for Deandre Jordan S&T they're working on. They're going to want to pair Jordan up with a PG before they worry about retaining Monta & that's going to limit his options. For a guy turning 30 this season, I'm not sure he'll turn down the security that comes with a 4 year deal. But of all of the FA's I mentioned, I see Monta as the most likely to land a bigger contract. I'd still go after him at 9-11M per year & settle for a cheaper option to go with G. Green or Afflalo at SF, like Dunleavy. Monta is an extremely rare value signing. There aren't many guys that will give you 19-4 consistently without demanding a max contract. I love the fit of Monta next to Clarkson as we transition into life after Kobe. Monta should be a priority imo. Afflalo does have a 7.7M option he could pick up, but like Monta, he'll be turning 30 this season (& it's in Portland). You figure Kawhi, Butler, Middleton, Tobias Harris, Carroll, D. Green will all get contracts before teams move on to Afflalo. I'm not sure he's in a position to turn down a multi year deal starting at 5-7 at his age. That's the only blurb I've been able to find about Biyombo, from Zach Lowe at Grantland. Certainly makes it seem like 5-6 per on a multi year deal gets it done. As for McDaniels, he wasn't able to get any minutes at all in Houston. I think they see him as an insurance policy incase Brewer opts out & gets a big offer elsewhere. Otherwise, I doubt they match any kind of offer. My main concern with McDaniels is a draft day trade. Houston has two 1st rounders, I think Morey will try to package those 2 picks + McDaniels + more young talent to a team that wants to dump a big name player for rebuilding pieces. I could be way off on any or all of these, but based on the information that's our there right now, this is how I see it going. Of course, FA is full of surprises every year, so I'm not holding my breath.
I'm not arguing for signing Love, mostly because his 18.9M starting salary would greatly limit the other moves we can make & I think Randle at SF makes him a waste of a #7 pick. But I strongly disagree with the part of your post that I quoted. Love didn't show that he's a 16/9 guy on a great team, Love showed that he's a 16/9 guy on a team built around Lebron. It's the same thing that happened with Bosh. Bigs who can post up & shoot the ball turn into floor spacers for Lebron. Love could still be putting up 20+ & 12+ on just about any other playoff team.
I was of the mind that 8M would be a good starting point for Monta. At max raises (for us), the deal would pay 8.0, 8.36, 8.74, and 9.13M over four seasons. He'd be entering his age 34 season at the end of that contract. We could bump it to right where he would've left off with the Mavs (8.74, 9.13, 9.54, and 9.97 - 37.4M total). I've been looking at Biyombo for quite some time. Biyombo has a QO of 5.5M. Will Charlotte do that? They have Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams, Al Jefferson (PO), and Noah Vonleh under contract. That gives them this rotation: PF: Williams / Zeller/ Vonleh C: Jefferson / Biyombo / Zeller He is their primary backup C, but he's not their primary backup big, and I take it they're looking for more from Zeller. They also have Maxiell who played heavy minutes at C who is a UFA. I'd offer three years starting at 4.5 (4.5, 4.7, 4.9) and see if he's interested. BTW, Maxiell would be a decent bargain bin pickup for us at Big.
That's right around what I envisioned signing Monta for due to his age, but I'd go higher if the market dictates it. Even starting at 9-10M we aren't going to find a player to give us 19-4 for less $. As for Biyombo, the blurb from Zach Lowe that I quoted a few posts up seems to indicate that execs around the league think he can be had for a multi year deal starting at 4M. I think it depends on what happens with Jefferson. If he opts out & tries to get a multi year deal out of them, maybe they let him walk & keep Bismack. If they hang on to Jefferson, I think they'd prefer giving the backup minutes to Zeller to justify that #4 pick.
The point is that Bosh's numbers on a great team, one built around multiple stars, were muted. They weren't his lofty numbers that he averaged in Minnesota. I think Randle can put those kinds of numbers out there on a great team too. If we can spend our money elsewhere, I'm fine with that. I don't need Love this summer. I would probably be happier splitting that cash between Carroll and a couple of back-ups.
^^ I'm with this. Really the more I think about it, if we have 22 mill to spend, I would be down to get Carroll for 13, and keep Lin and Davis at 4.5 each if possible. Or maybe Lin at 4 and Davis at 5. What I like is that those two work really well together. If they come off the bench that's pretty happening. Lin, Sir Duke, Swaggy, Black, Davis (plus Kelly for a different look at stretch 4) is a pretty darned solid bench. I wouldn't mind that.
I think Lin would rather go elsewhere, but just any competent backup at PG works for me. I like the Lin/Davis chemistry, but if Lin wants out/wants a starting gig then we're not the home for him. The point remains though, that if we nail this pick we just need to fill out one more starter and a couple of veterans. I love that.
